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THE BOSTON GLOBE June 29, 2006 By Paul E. Kandarian
On her feet: Julie-Ann Mack has two pretty big reasons for counting herself lucky, First of all, she has a job she has dreamed about since she was a child: She owns Julie's Studio of Dance at the Joppa, in the former Joppa Grill in east Bridgewater.
Second - and without it there would be no first - she is a cancer survivor. Twice.
Mack, now 31, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease on her 14th birthday. For three years, she fought it off through two surgeries, and chemotherapy and radiation. It went into remission.
Last summer, Mack - who had been a dance major at the College of the Holy Cross after graduating third in her class from Carver High School - rented space at Joppa to make her childhood dream of owning a dance studio come true.
At almost the same time, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Part of hearing that took me back to the first time that I was diagnosed with cancer," said Mack, married to realtor Jonathan Mack and mother of Abigail, 3. "You're sitting in a small room and they tell you you have cancer. But then, I had my parents doing the worrying, making the decisions. Now I had to."
As a teen, she was bombarded with radiation for her first cancer and she ruled it out this time. She had the breast removed last July, opened the studio in September, and has been free of the disease since.
She teaches adults and children at her studio, she said, and recently held the studio's first dance recital. A dancer since the age of 2, when she took lessons at Sherry Gold Dance Studio in Brockton, it was her vision to own her own place, a vision cancer could not stop.
Said Mack, "I had to do it because you only live once." 
THE TOWN OBSERVER November 30, 2006 By Edward M. Sunshine
Local Dancer is Chosen for the Nutcracker: Bethany Stoehr, a local dancer, has been chosen to play the role of a "Soldier" in Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre's The Nutcracker. Currently, Bethany Stoehr is a student of Julie's Studio of Dance in East Bridgewater. The performance of The Nutcracker will take place at the J. Everett Collins Center in Andover, December 8 - 10 and at the Duxbury Performing Arts Center, December 21 - 24.
Bethany was chosen from over 420 dance students coming from all over Southern Massachusetts.
In a recent interview with the Stoehr family, we were given the opportunity to learn more about one of Bridgewater's rising performers.
How long have you been a dance student? For 10 years, I started when I was three...
...What is your favorite style of dance? Out of tap, ballet and jazz, Bethany likes ballet most of all, said proud Mom, Tara Stoehr.
Why Ballet? It's the most challenging.
How did you find out about the auditions for The Nutcracker performance with Jose Mateo? Julie has been very instrumental and supportive in my pursuit of The Nutcracker performance, I would never have known about the performance if it wasn't for Julie.
How many tries out at the audition? Over 400 children tried out for the performance. In her cast alone, there were 65 dancers chosen, and only 14 soldiers, said Greg Stoehr.
What is your favorite subject? Favorite subject is science.
What do you want to do when you grow up? I want to be a research veternarian that works with animals in their natural habitat.
How do you think dancing and dance instruction will help you in this field? Discipline, challenging and keeps me very physically fit.
What are your favorite activities outside of school? Soccer, skiing, and go-kart racing.
"I am very proud of my sister and what she has achieved", said Kathryn Stoehr, Bethany's sister. |
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